University set to curb alcohol flow

As the football season draws to a close, IU administrators are considering following the lead of other Indiana colleges by imposing tighter regulations on tailgating activities at athletic events.\nWorking in conjunction with the IU Police Department, campus officials might implement new policies to deter underage drinking at tailgate events. The efforts include designating alcohol-free zones in Memorial Stadium's red lots and boosting the cost of tailgate parking to increase police patrols in those areas, said Dean of Students Richard McKaig. Similar measures have already taken effect at Purdue and Ball State universities.\nIU is considered a "dry campus" with only a few exceptions for students over 21.\nAlthough McKaig admits the success of IU's proposals can only be determined through implementation, he said he feels the policies' main intent lies in providing an alternative to alcohol consumption.\nThe recommendations were originally presented to various University departments last year. The next step, McKaig said, is to form small groups within departments to begin discussing implementation strategies.\nMost arrests made at tailgating functions are on counts of public intoxication and illegal consumption, IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said. Several other charges, including vandalism and assault, usually arise as well.\nIn addition, IUPD has come to expect complaints from residents living close to Memorial Stadium about noise, public urination, litter and, on some occasions, intoxicated revelers passed out in front lawns.\nSimilar complaints by disgruntled Muncie residents have led to tightened control of tailgating activity on the Ball State campus, BSU Dean of Students Randy Hyman said.\nTailgating at Ball State became a problem in the past four to five years, when the university's athletic department began encouraging fans to tailgate to increase attendance at home football games, said BSUPD Sgt. Gene Burton.\nThe Ball State regulations focus on emphasizing tailgating in a "traditional format," Hyman said. \n"Tailgating historically has been about a picnic linked to an event -- in this case, a football game," Hyman said. "We don't have a long and rich history of tailgating at Ball State, but it's a fun thing to do if it's done right. It's not intended to be high risk, high liability activity. "\nWhile Ball State has not completely outlawed tailgating, other measures, such as a ban of kegs on university property, designation of special drinking areas and increased law enforcement have been taken to step-up regulation at athletic events. BSU police officials made 66 arrests last year on campus in violation of state liquor laws, according to Ball State Police. An additional 155 arrests were made in non-campus buildings. \nBut Burton said he hasn't seen a decrease in the number of arrests for illegal consumption at Ball State since the University imposed tailgating restrictions. In fact, that number increased. \n"There was, yes, a decrease in the number of public intoxication arrests, but I saw no link at all between minor consumption arrests and the tailgating policies," Burton said. "I think it's because of the more stringent enforcement of underage drinking." \nBut Hyman said there has been "no significant increase" in the number of alcohol-related arrests.\n"The number off arrests hasn't increased," he said. "I think it's because we were fairly clear on the front end on how the policies would be implemented."\nWhile last year was a "pretty bad year" for arrests at athletic events at IU, Minger said the number of arrests has decreased somewhat this year. He attributes the change to the reorganization of law enforcement personnel following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Because of the possibility of explosive or air attacks, IUPD reallocated many of their patrolmen to the north side of 17th Street and within Memorial Stadium.\n"Doing that left the south side of 17th Street and the red lots, where typically most arrests take place, with too few officers," Minger said. "It's simply a matter of not having enough personnel to cover a given area."\nMinger estimates 100 law enforcement personnel are usually present at IU athletic events, a combined force including officers from the Monroe County Sheriff's Auxiliary, the Bloomington Police Department, the Indiana State Police Department and IUPD.\nBut the reallocation of personnel has taken its toll on the department. Patrolmen simply "get spread too thin," Minger said. \nLast year, mounted officers on horseback were called in from IUPUI to help supervise crowd control. \n"The amount of officers isn't inadequate," Minger said. "I just think that if everyone determined specific areas of focus, we could come up with good solutions to address the problem of underage drinking at games."\nIU's current proposal involved increasing parking fees to $1 per car to finance increased police support.\nOne of Ball State's most effective policies, Burton said, involved closing down tailgate areas approximately 15 minutes after the start of athletic events. Dubbed the "tailgate sweep," the effort relied upon voluntary compliance from fans to evacuate the areas.\nWhile IU officials have thus far cited no plans to evacuate tailgate areas, alcohol-free zones will be enforced. McKaig said past enforcement efforts have typically centered around state law, rather than IU's dry campus mandates. Delegating alcohol-free zones will facilitate better enforcement, University officials said.\nMinger said the policies will "indirectly" address this issue. \n"The student code of ethics and University policy follow fairly closely to what state law is anyway," Minger said. "Under those codes, you can't engage in illegal activity, and drinking while you're under 21 is obviously illegal."\nMinger said the University proposals are a positive first step to curbing underage drinking at tailgates.\n"Based on what the chancellor has said, we're very optimistic," Minger said. "We feel these steps will provide the input needed to reach collaborative solutions and to give better enforcement to both sides (of 17th Street)."\nMcKaig will meet with Ball State administrators in December to discuss the success of implementation on the Muncie campus. \nSenior Adam Springer said he's been tailgating since his freshman year and hasn't seen the parties change significantly in that time. He questions the University's proposals, claiming they "just won't work. \n"I've never really seen tailgating get out of hand," Springer said. "The only thing the new policies will do is draw students away from athletic events, and you'll just have a bunch of old guys sitting around reminiscing about how they used to be able to drink at tailgates."\nSophomore Greg Dietz agreed.\n"Tailgating is a college tradition at IU," Dietz said. "Without it, our celebration and display of pride will be limited to the confines of Memorial Stadium"